Installation
Hey, this looks pretty slick!
Unfortunately (Don't you hate it when reviewers say that?) I don't have a case handy to install this PSU into, but I was able to pick up a few components to support a bench test setup. It cost me a pretty penny (as in over $1K) to obtain my test support components (Asus Crosshair motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 2 GB of Corsair XMS DDR2 memory and a pair of eVGA 7900 GTs), but sometimes you just need to perform your testing in a real world configuration. I wanted to see if Ultra's X-Finitiy 500 Watt PSU was good enough to run nVidia's SLi configuration. For those of you who are new to dual-videocard configurations, SLi stands for Scalable Link Interface; this differs in the approach that the now extinct 3dFX company used with their SLI technology called Scan Leave Interface. To learn more about the general requirements of nVidia's SLi design, check here (but come back real quick like).
The PSU is an important part of the SLi equation, because you must have lots of current available on the 12V output(s). Depending on the graphic cards used, you might require from 20 to 35 Amps from the PSU at 12V, meaning 10 Amps to 17 Amps available to each videocard. I chose mid-range SLi-capable videocards for my testing (the pair of eVGA 7900 GTs); I am sure that more power would be required for a pair of 7900 GTX videocards. Oh, you might need another five hundred bucks too! I also plan to overclock this bench setup, so let's see if 500 Watts will be enough to handle this stressful situation.
Figures 10 through 16 show you how I connected all the parts on my work bench. I used the interior box section from the Asus carton for my platform. This was necessary to get the motherboard up high enough so the videocards and audio-riser card would clear the overhang area.
(click to enlarge) | | Figure 10 It might look messy, but it booted first time! |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 11 Here's a view from the other side. |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 12 The Ultra PSU runs nice and quiet. It looks sharp too. |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 13 The Ultra PSU has the SATA power connectors, which you see in use here on my SATA hard drive. |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 14 These are the two 12V PCI-e videocard power leads. |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 15 This is the 12V motherboard lead. |
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You might note how these power leads look. As you can see, they appear to be very flexible (and they are). These leads are called "FlexForce Cables" and they look great too. This is the best set of PSU cables I have worked with, and I have seen a good number of PSUs over the past six years.
(click to enlarge) | | Figure 16 You haven't lived until you have viewed our site with an SLi rig. |
Testing
The test configuration booted up the first time. Test complete. Oh, you want more information, don't you? Yes, there are a few more details to discuss. I hooked up my trusty Radio Shack digital voltmeter to both the 5V and 12V outputs and measured the voltage ripple during the boot process. I could have continued down this path and looked at voltage ripple while gaming, defraging the hard drive, or perhaps transferring files. I found such good regulation in the output voltage that I decided to stop after these first two measurements. The 5V output (figure 17) had just 10mV of voltage ripple during bootup, and the 12V output (figure 18) had a bit more with 60mV of voltage ripple. This is very good and you certainly can't complain at these tight tolerances.
(click to enlarge) | | Figure 17 Plot of the 5V output during the boot process. |
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(click to enlarge) | | Figure 18 Plot of the 12V output during the boot process. |
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Just to make sure I still had some headroom with this Ultra PSU and my bench setup, I did some gaming with Call of Duty 2 (which spun up both of the 7900 GTs) and I overclocked the lovely Athlon 64 by 200 MHz. My CPU temperature went up just a tad, but I didn't experience any instability issues. That's good enough for me!
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